The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Gloom

  • Mefy’s gloom

    Mefy’s gloom

    Inside his jail cell, Godwin Emefiele has a habit of staring into the emptiness, to relieve his life in time of repute. January 2023 is barely a year ago since he presided as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and scarred the fate of 200 million citizenry including his arch-enemy, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Nigeria prepared for the 2023 presidential elections.

    This writer recalls Emefiele’s premature victory walk; how he sauntered in catty glory along the corridor of the Presidential Villa, in Aso Rock, Abuja, just after he met with former President Muhammadu Buhari and contrived his right to persist with the shady currency redesign and naira swap enforced by his administration as CBN governor.

    The resultant naira scarcity – engineered to incite the electorate against Tinubu and cost the APC a large percentage of anticipated votes at the February 25 polls – was manifesting swimmingly, Emefiele bragged and gloated to State House Correspondents.

    Mefy didn’t care about the impact of his personalised vendetta against Tinubu on the citizenry: a lecturer died on a lengthy bank queue while trying to withdraw a paltry N5,000 to feed his family; fathers stripped naked and cried in the banking hall, mothers tore off their clothes from their bodies and rolled on the bare floor under the cold gaze of soulless bank workers, all protesting their inability to access their savings and feed their families,

    Through the orchestrated starvation and deaths of ordinary citizens, the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, hailed Emefiele aka Mefy, for the hardship he had imposed.

    They told Nigerians, tongue in cheek, to bear the suffering: the sudden bankruptcies, starvation, riots, robberies, and deaths, were necessary sacrifices that must be made to prevent vote-buying and successfully alienate the electorate from Tinubu and the APC, they said.

    More fascinating was the passionate support of the Obidient mob, who hailed and snuggled in the bloom of Mefy’s Dystopia. One fanatic told me, “With what Emefiele has done, Tinubu’s ambition is dead on arrival. Emefiele has finished him. This currency redesign is a masterstroke,” he said.

    Indeed, the die seemed cast against Tinubu, until his unanticipated yet emphatic victory at the polls. Fast forward through Tinubu’s inauguration and painstaking probe of Emefiele’s tenure as CBN governor and Nigeria confronts the swollen belly of Mefy’s wiles.

    On June 9, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended Emefiele from office immediately amid an investigation of his tenure and controversial reforms in the economy’s financial sector. Yemi Cardoso was appointed as the new substantive head of the apex bank thus signalling an end to Emefiele’s nine-year tenure or thereabouts.

    Emefiele’s suspension and subsequent trial have been linked to significant scandals during his tenure.

    Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed to probe the CBN reportedly discovered 593 bank accounts in the United States, United Kingdom and China in which the CBN, under Emefiele, kept Nigerian funds without authorisation by the Board and Investment Committee of the bank.

    The investigator also discovered how billions of naira were allegedly stolen by Emefiele and other officials from the CBN’s accounts including a “fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million” – about N2.9 billion at the then official exchange rate of N461 to a dollar.

    Local media reports cite Obazee’s recommendation that the ex-CBN chief and at least 13 others, including his deputy governors, should be prosecuted for alleged gross financial offences.

    In the UK alone, the Special Investigator said his probe led him to £543.4 million stashed by Emefiele in fixed deposit accounts. He also said Emefiele manipulated the Naira exchange rate and perpetrated fraud in the e-Naira project of the CBN.

    In his report submitted to President Bola Tinubu on December 9, Obazee reportedly identified several “chargeable offences” for which the former CBN governor may be asked to defend himself before a court.

    Tinubu had on July 28 appointed Obazee as a Special Investigator to probe the CBN and related entities, charging him to work with relevant security and anti-corruption agencies for the assignment, in consonance with the provisions of Section 15(5) of the Nigerian constitution and furtherance of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign.

    Obazee, who was the CEO of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) between 2011 and 2017, has also been charged with strengthening and blocking leakages in the CBN and key Government Business Entities (GBEs).

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    The revelation of financial misappropriation by the CBN during Emefiele’s tenure underscores the potential for theft, money laundering and other illicit activities within Nigeria’s financial system, casting a shadow on the CBN’s integrity.

    At the moment, the nights are the hardest for Emefiele, when he lies in his cot, ruing the whine of silence in his ears. Back when he was CBN governor, his phone buzzed constantly for his attention. These days, its blank screen makes his face look like a ghost in the dark, his eyes sunk into a perpetual side glance at the suddenly idle device.

    His mind and the rest of his senses stuck in a perpetual vertical pose, like an antennae scanning for calls and messages that would never come. The infamous Mefy Cabal or Coterie has disappeared into thin air, along with its celebrated infamy.

    He shouldn’t even have a phone. An accused public officer standing trial should enjoy no such privileges. Yesterday, Mefy cherry-picked calls and messages to answer to. Today, he scouts for both calls and messages. From anyone, everyone and nobody in particular.

    Those who fellated his ego have pleasured him to his doom. Their frantic cheers and fondling of his wiles have wilted in the heat of his prosecution. Nigeria needed Emefiele to uphold professionalism and a moral culture impervious to degeneration and the machinations of politicians, rogue economists and industrial bogeymen, but he failed.

    Had he succeeded at his brief, the ricochet of his exploits would have served a greater purpose improving the economy and burnishing him for a more significant leadership role in the future.

    As CBN chief, Emefiele failed to evolve an enduring moral code unyielding to any baggage from his past and amenable to higher responsibilities in future.

    Agreed, moral codes could be somewhat obstructive, relative and counter-productive, particularly when pitched against a vicious circle of leeches and reprobates in government circuits. Ultimately, moral codes are of inestimable benefits to civilisation.

    Without them, we are vulnerable to gluttony, amorality and wanton tyranny of the self-seeking and covetous. It was a lack of moral code and personal ethics that ruined the names and reputation of immediate past genii in Nigeria’s power circuits.

    Emefiele now understands perhaps that public service must be humanely carried out as an honour, not cashed in upon or taken advantage of with a haughty smirk and condescending smile.

    Let’s hope Mefy now understands that, in the end, he would be judged by how adroitly he scorned or toned to a minimum, the arrogance implicit in leadership and the corruption characteristic of power.

    It took the ex-CBN boss an unceremonious exit from office and subsequent detention to understand that whoever dances too close to the balefire of the vanities would get burnt.

    Emefiele danced too close and he got burnt, leaving the vivid air soured with his charred aspects.

  • The ‘bloom and gloom’ in the Ibadan obaship saga

    Between the Bible and the philosopher, there’s a common ground of agreement that the good and the bad co-habit.

    And that point is repeatedly made and seen on a daily basis in our society. Serious matter this, irrespective of the light joke made of it by the authors of a kiddies programme titled ‘Bloom and Gloom’.

    Bloom defines the world of kiddies; as many of them are immune from the realities of its opposite. They know very little of gloom. At best, the basic understanding of kiddies to the word ‘gloom’ is limited to only when their candies and ice cream lollies are taken off their tender but itchy fingers. One does not need to search far for proof: a kid whose two parents have just perished in a ghastly road crash is totally oblivious of the calamity that has just befallen him; whereas his instant reaction when a chocolate ball or bar is snatched off his hands is akin to someone whose fairy tale world has just collapsed.

    I am too preoccupied with far more serious issues than to get glued to the TV to be watching – of all programmes – kiddies cartoons; the reason why I may not know if the authors of the TV programme are indeed teaching our kiddies the real essence of bloom and gloom in that programme.

    If I have my way, I will choose bloom and reject gloom in my life but mortals don’t have a choice in the manner; and when a share of either, becomes your lot, brace yourself up to face that reality with equanimity. It is a trillion- naira advice especially for Ibadan people on whichever side of the divide they are.

    The recent decision of the Oyo State Government to create many kingships out of Ibadan city is as comical as it is confusing. On the bloom side, some are happy that it is no longer going to be one monarch to be superintending over a vast land mass; so if the number is even 100, the better. One ‘daughter of the soil’ that spoke to me on phone from the United States of American, on the issue, asked rhetorically “ how many Obas do you have in Lagos, to be expressing surprise at the huge number we will now have in “Ibadan ti ‘a”.

    Comical, isn’t it? She has reduced the matter to land mass, forgetting that in the case of Lagos, several ethnic nationalities make up the little enclaves of Lagos with distinguishing claims to their obaships. Eguns and Aworis, for example, monopolise their domains with uncommon grit as to let it be known that no intruder will be permitted an inch in their territory. But will the Ibadans, with their customary and barely cosmopolitan question of “tani baba re n’leyi?” permit the accommodating nature of Lagos that permitted igbiras, ekitis, nupes, otta-aworis, et al, to have a bit of the cake in obaship and baleship matters ? I doubt it.

    The reason why the prospect of expanded obaship in Ibadanland appears to a layman like me, as gloomy; if not now, but later. The foundation for the anarchy that may come has already been laid. Follow me: The incumbent Olubadan, who by the new arrangement, will assume the Imperial Majesty status of an Ooni of Ife or the Sultan of Sokoto and should be happy about the new status, has headed to court while a former governor of Oyo State who eventually ended up as a serial governorship contender in the same state, and a high chief of Ibadan and a beneficiary of the incumbent Governor Ajimobi’s largesse, who by the new arrangement, should henceforth be known and addressed as His Royal Majesty, Oba Rasheed Ladoja, saw a “Greek gift” in all this and vowed to approach the court to assist him disapprove of the governor’s approval.

    The recent decision of the Oyo State Government to create many kingships out of Ibadan city is as comical as it is confusing. On the bloom side, some are happy that it is no longer going to be one monarch to be superintending over a vast land mass; so if the number is even 100, the better. One ‘daughter of the soil’ that spoke to me on phone from the United States of American, on the issue, asked rhetorically “ how many Obas do you have in Lagos, to be expressing surprise at the huge number we will now have in “Ibadan ti ‘a”.

    Comical, isn’t it? She has reduced the matter to land mass, forgetting that in the case of Lagos, several ethnic nationalities make up the little enclaves of Lagos with distinguishing claims to their obaships. Eguns and Aworis, for example, monopolise their domains with uncommon grit as to let it be known that no intruder will be permitted an inch in their territory. But will the Ibadans, with their customary question of “tani baba re n’leyi?” permit the accommodating nature of Lagos that permitted Igbiras, Ekitis, Nupes, Otta-Aworis, et al, to have a bit of the cake in obaship and baleship matters? I doubt it.

    Will the new Majesties now limit their traditional aspiration to just being HRM or they still can, as of old,  aspire to rise to become the more fascinating HIM (His Imperial Majesty) which has hitherto been the ultimate for all Ibadan High Chiefs? Perhaps, an emerging custodian of Yoruba tradition, Oloye Lekan Alabi of Ibadanland can help out here.

    When Military Governor David Medayese Jemibewon from Aiyetoro-Gbede in today’s Kogi State upgraded the Olubadan Baleship stool to full obaship with the first beaded crown ever to be won by any Olubadan in the 70s, the Ibadans saw the bloom in the fly-whisk of the first beneficiary of the government magnanimity and regarded the event as not only unprecedented but unique. Precedent is a good soulmate of politics, do I hear someone say?

    This new development of Ibadan Chiefs assuming obaship status in the Olubadan’s life time while he assumes imperial majesticship over all and sundry, on the surface, should attract greater “jollification” than the one that heralded Jemibewon’s crown then; but is this one to be regarded as a bloom for the people or gloom for the vast territory? The answer is in the womb of time.

     

    ‘Ewure ile o mo iyi ode’

    The marriage ceremony of my step daughter recently in Chelmsford, Essex in the United Kingdom, proved a few points worthy of reflection upon.

    One, the physical presence of two prominent Obas from Nigeria’s premier state, Lagos. Someone walked up to me at the venue, wanting to know more of me and when I asked why, he said he was surprised to learn from one of those at the reception party that I was the facilitator. He expressed surprise again.

    To be sure, I cannot fathom why he felt surprised.  He sounded innocent to me, I must tell. And, that innocent (?) inquiry reminds me of the general behavioural pattern of people in our country; and in the U.K. by mean people who are driven more by envy, jealousy and disguised but mindless pursuit of pecuniary benefits, to behave in ways that clearly tell that some of them went to the Uni. but never allowed the university to pass through them. But the surprise more to me is why people, whether in flowing agbada or buba or gown or cassock, never grow up, such that they always want to look down on people or try to want to re-write people’s history. This category of people perhaps haven’t learnt enough to know that it isn’t good to look down on people, as only God sits up there.

    Some others, because of their love of filthy lucre, even descend from their Olympian height, to contradict themselves at the drop of a hat, speaking from all the corners of their mouths, wrecking homes with their plainly biased and mischievous mouths, in the process. To them, I say: call honey by whatever name, it is still sweet!

    Truth is that, like Haruna Ishola succinctly put it in one of his records, the goat at home doesn’t know the worth and capability of a hunter who would easily have hunted it down and made mincemeat of the goat, were it a habitue of the forest.

    No matter what, whether or not such people like it, they are too little to undo God’s work. The Supreme Being, that made us who we are, is still at work, ensuring that his beloved are preserved for greater exploits and protected from harm’s way.

  • Gloom for Anambra inmates

    Gloom for Anambra inmates

    The challenges in the prisons are well documented: cells accommodate more than double the capacity for inmates who, in some cases, have to take turns sleeping. At the Awka prisons in the Anambra State capital, no fewer than 50 inmates struggle for space in one cell; in fact, the facility built in 1904 to house 238 persons, accommodates 480. Things are hardly any better at two other prisons in the state, one in Onitsha, the commercial hub of the state, the other at Ekwulobia.

    The sad thing is that conditions are worsening for people behind bars in the state, as The Nation found out during a visit of a philanthropist and politician, Mr. Godwin Ezeemo, to the prison to mark his 59th birthday with the inmates.

    The state Chief Judge, Justice Peter Nnanna Umeadi helped to thin down the number of prisoners in Awka, reducing it from 480 to 437 in a clemency. Some inmates have converted to Christianity, a number even becoming pastors, and some enrolling in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN).

    Still, the horrors persist. The borehole sunk in 2009 by the state government has seized to function and whenever it worked, the water had better not be ingested.

    Also, the clinic built by the government does not have a single drug, not even pain killers.

    The inmates take a sachet of packaged water three times a day in the prison because they have no water, while they contribute money raised by their relatives to purchase diesel for the plant.

    The Nation gathered that the last time the government gave a vehicle to the prison was in 2000.

    However, despite the suffering and pains being gone through by the inmates, the Nation gathered that they have not been able to react because of the way prison staff handle them.

    Reacting on the numerous problems in the prison, the deputy controller of prisons (DCP), Matthew Kalu, confirmed the problems, adding that Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), has been another major problem in the place.

    He said, “The inmates here are suffering and we need a rescue mission in this place; nothing is working, the government has abandoned this place.”

    “We pray that the present administration will look in the direction of the prisons, government is not doing anything apart from feeding the inmates and you can imagine the type of food; [only God] is sustaining them.”

    Also, Assistant Controller of Prisons (ACP) in Aguata prisons, Paschal Ibegbuleme corroborated what Kalu said, adding that prisons have been neglected and abandoned.

    Ekwy Okafor, the prisons welfare officer, heaped praises on Ezeemo for coming to celebrate his birthday with people who are neglected and abandoned.

    He said Ezeemo had shown the kind of real love Jesus Christ showed that made him to suffer for the people.

    Okafor, further said that what Ezeemo did was rare because he alleged that the big people in the society including top politicians always go to big hotels to celebrate their birthdays, adding that the philanthropist has shown example of a good leader.

    The prison staff described Ezeemo as a hero, a giant, a humanitarian, a philanthropist and a listener to the voiceless.

    Speaking with The Nation, Ezeemo said what he did was to satisfy his mind, his heart, his soul and his body.

    A Paul Haris fellow of the Rotary Club International, Ezeemo lamented that all the basic things that make life meaningful were all lacking in the prisons.

    Ezeemo said, “In advanced countries, being a prisoner was to have rest outside your home, but in Nigeria, it is a different ball game, but we must not continue to profess negativity, but we should be positive in what we do”

    “I have not come for a sermon in the prison but to celebrate with our fellow human beings, who are being neglected because of what some of them do not know about,” Ezeemo said.

    However, while speaking with the inmates before he cut his birthday cake with them, Ezeemo, told them not to see their condition as the worst in life, adding that they should not lose hope.

    “You are here for reformatory purpose, but you should not see yourself as failures, the reason for some of you being here could be as a result of mistaken identity,” Ezeemo said.

    The provost general in the prison who described himself as Mohammadu Buhari in the prison, claimed that some of the inmates had spent 12 years there.

    He said that over 200 inmates in the Awka prison would not have ended up there if they had someone to stand for them.

  • Natives feast amid gloom

    Natives feast amid gloom

    Everyone knows the tall buildings, paved roads and streetlights. They know it is the federal seat of power, where people of means and power live. But who knows the native inhabitants of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)?

    Who knows the Amwamwa, Bassa, Egbura, Gade, Ganagana, Gbagyi, Gbari, Gwandara and Koro, all of whom claim to be the hosts of everyone who lives there or visits the 8,000 sq. km territory?

    But whether they are recognised and given their due or not, the various tribes came out to celebrate what they called their Heritage Day.

    They came with their women, drums, masquerades and hunters, among others, united under the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA).

    They were determined to make themselves heard even if no one else bothered to look their way.

    It was far from a feast of frollicking. As the various tribes displayed their cultures, none lost sight of the fact that they are a threatened lot. The consciousness of marginalisation is strong, as is the gloom of being cheated and even the despair of cultures belittled and spited.

    When most Nigerians relocate to or visit Abuja, the natives are seen as a local set of people, forgetting that every community in the country has its own share of local people who are yet to catch up with the standards of the educated and professionals in big cities.

    When asked, most of the natives of Abuja will tell you that every other Nigerian has an ancestral home and community to call home but theirs have given way to beautiful edifice, which they are unfortunately not a part of.

    Although for years, they have been known to clamour for a form of independence in the form of a Mayoral status as is seen in different cities like theirs around the world, a ministerial slot, additional Federal Constituencies and Area Councils, they have come out more boldly in this era of campaign to make their demands and conditions as an option for voting.

    President of the Original Inhabitants Development Association (OIDA), Pastor Danladi Jeji, during their third FCT Heritage Day celebration in Abuja, said that he cannot reconcile the fact that although the natives have peacefully harboured the capital city of the country and visitors for 38 years, they still feel like hermaphrodites, and not sure of what they really are.

    He said that his people are not asking for what is not attainable in other states of the Federation but a simple chance to have a government that they can recognise as theirs and also hold accountable when things do not go well like in other states.

    He said, “I want to clear the air by saying that what the original inhabitants are clamouring is for the Nigerian government to assert the Nigerian constitution with a clear democratic structure for the people so that those representing us, when something comes we will be able to hold them accountable, as it is, this House of Representative and the Senate is not officially their by the law for the Original inhabitants.

    “We cannot reconcile the fact that Abuja, as it is, we are above five million people with only one Senator and two House of Representative members and Nigerians are also saying that the original inhabitants should hold them accountable. On what ground? Every state has a State House of Assembly except us, so matter how anybody gets there, we will hardly ever get the person to do anything that will satisfy the people because they have already tied us to a position.

    “How can I pass a vote of no confidence when I have no government, how can you pass a vote of no confidence on a hermaphrodite condition, the government has made the FCT look like neither a man or a woman, how can you pass a vote of no confidence on someone that is neither a man or woman.

    “Let anyone who desires to be the next Head of State notice that we are here, any political party that will recognise communities of the FCT is already coming to partner with us and that kind of person is who we can give our vote.

    “We are saying that the Nigerian government cannot divide us, God gave us this land and flesh and blood cannot divide us.

    “The Abuja Heritage Day is to showcase how accommodating the Original Inhabitants have been to all Nigerians, despite the fact that the system is trying to not know that we are existing. To insinuate that Abuja was a virgin land and people did not exist here is a very big error.

    “To say that the land was compensated for is a kind of derogatory word; it is not right. Now that we are in a democracy, it is very unconstitutional for the government to practice democracy and our people are marginalised in all ramifications.

    “People may say that Abuja is very beautiful but Abuja is very beautiful because the people have been accommodating, that is how the development has kept on going and the government continue to behave like we don’t even exist. The government is building Abuja in the wrong footing because the law stipulates that you don’t take somebody’s land until adequate compensation has been made even if it means relocating the person completely out of the place.

    “There are about 808 villages in the FCT, if as you say that the FCT is looking beautiful and 808 communities with almost 2 million inhabitants are still here, the idea is that the people have been accommodating but there is fear.

    “People say that when original inhabitants are settled, they sell of the lands to foreigners but i want to explain it this way, in the whole 36 states, all Nigerians have their ancestral lands that they can lay claim to and they can go to their states and have title ownership given to them to do anything with, the 2million Nigerians of the FCT cannot do that with their fathers land.

    “So now you are saying that because an original inhabitant decides to have land and sell it, he has committed the worst sin but all Nigerians can sell of lands in the 36 states and no one says anything.

    “36 states of the nation does not go to ask the Head of State to give them ministers, it is automatic in the constitution, now why will the Nigerian government say that they want to give us, Minister of the FCT? The issue is that the confusions in the constitution that operates the FCT is what comes into play.

    “We asking for it to be addressed, you can’t be dribbling Nigerians by saying that you are practicing democracy and telling people that you are not part of the democracy yet they are the owners of the place where the democracy is being operated from, this is pure apartheid in Nigeria which is not suppose to happen.

    “We will go with that head of state that will come and recognise a community here, campaign and demand for our vote.”

    An Original inhabitant and Director FCT Universal Basic Education Board, Adamu Noma who was also present at the heritage day celebration added, “We want to display that we the original inhabitants of the FCT have our culture to protect and showcase to the entire world, we are identifiable and our culture is very simple, accommodating and friendly to everybody.

    “With this event, our young children will see that we have a culture that can be emulated by everybody. Many people that have come to the FCT thought that there are no original inhabitants, today is the day for us to showcase that we have original inhabitants and we have a culture to be identifies with and we don’t want the culture to die, we want our children to continue with the culture even after we have gone because we want our culture to be sustained through this cultural events.”

     

  • Gloom, sadness as agencies vacate National Theatre

    FEDERAL Government agencies and parastatals at the National Theatre Iganmu Lagos yesterday started vacating the premises following the expiration of a two-week quit order by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and National Orientation, Chief Edem Duke.

    Some of the agencies affected are National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC), National Gallery of Art (NGA), National Institute for Cultural Orientation (NICO), The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and some private and commercial agencies and business concerns within the large premises.

    Employees of the National Gallery of Art (NGA), one of the affected agencies were seen packing some of their equipment and art works out of the premises.

    One of them confided they have been directed to evacuate some of the art works to safer places.

    The source further revealed that although the NGA has not yet secured a new office space within Lagos to house its staff and equipment, the situation was under control.

    “We have been mandated to look for and secure an office accommodation at either Ikoyi or Victoria Island. And our best bet as at now is a Federal Government property,” he further disclosed.

    Two weeks ago, The Nation published a new arrangement by the Federal Government to lease the premises of the National Theatre out for a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

    The arrangement, which includes the building of a five -star hotel, a shopping mall, multi-level car park, an amusement park, land and water restaurant, among others is expected to take effect immediately.

    There was an uneasy calm as people gathered within the artistes village and around the abegi area of the premises, discussing the development in clusters.

    Many of them were apprehensive as to where and how they could pack their belongings and close down their kiosks.

    A staff of NCAC, who spoke under anonymity, hinted that his agency was still in a dilemma as to where and when to pack.

    “Since we do not have enough money to move now, we are still apprehensive. Yes we have been told by our director in Abuja to move”.

    It was not clear whether NCAC had secured a new office space as most of the senior staff remained unsure of what to do.

    Many private and government business operators wore gloomy looks yesterday, saying they did not know where else to move to.

    Some of the affected parastatals in dilemma, it was gathered, include The Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA); Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA); Guild of Professional Artists of Nigeria (GFA); Dancers of National Troupe of Nigeria, Guild of Nigerians Dancers (GOND) and many more.